Rhode Island Arts and Health Network: Advancing the Integration of the Arts, Art-Therapies, and Health and Wellbeing in Rhode Island
Steven Boudreau
Steven Boudreau is Chief Administrative Officer for the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH). He is responsible for developing and branding the agency’s workforce, career, and leadership development programs for a staff of 500 public health champions. He is also a member of the Department’s Executive Leadership and Health Policy and Leadership teams. He is the Department’s Diversity Liaison; he participates on the national One Mind Music and Brain Think Tank and is a member of the Board of Directors for The Avenue Concept and the National Organization for Arts in Health.
Steven is also convener and Co-chair of the Rhode Island State Arts and Health Network - a statewide coalition of individuals and organizations who are rethinking the connection between the arts, art-therapies, and health and well-being for the state. In 2016, Steven utilized his strengths to engage a cross-sector network of 35 artists, arts-therapists, and clinicians to develop a first-of-its-kind State Arts and Health Plan. His speaking engagements, writings, and national involvement include participation in 2018 and 2020 National Organization of Arts in Health Leadership Summits and subsequent group development of a white paper titled “Addressing the Future of Arts in America.” He also participated in “Creating Healthy Communities: Arts + Public Health in America” - A national initiative led by the University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine in partnership with ArtPlace America. Most recently, Steven facilitated a collaborative effort to build a national research agenda and workplan aimed at advancing arts and health research to support the national effort to develop the field.
Anisa Raoof
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Anisa Raoof is the Arts and Health Grants Program Manager at the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. She oversees the Arts and Health grants program and works in partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Health to advance the integration of the arts, and health and well-being in Rhode Island through programming, conversations, and collaborations.
With a passion for design, film and finding innovative ways to connect with the community she has partnered with numerous organizations to create and support family programming through her work as former Executive Director of the Providence Children’s Film Festival, founder and publisher of Kidoinfo, a parenting website for Rhode Island families (2007-2017) and as a member of The Media Education Lab. With a degree in Psychology, and a minor in Painting, Anisa is fascinated by how we see and deal with the world. After college, she was part of a team researching what makes children stress resilient before starting her own design company making jewelry and home accessories and co-founding the Providence Craft Show. In her spare time now, she is learning to play guitar and enjoys weekly jam sessions with her bandmates from The Persisters.
Rachel Balaban
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Rachel Balaban is a Rhode Island teaching artist and movement educator. She is regional coordinator for Dance for PD and the founder of Dance for All People (DAPpers [dappers.us]), a multigenerational dance program designed for people with movement challenges and aging bodies. Rachel leads movement workshops for schools, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities, in addition to her extensive work in academia where she is an Associate Teacher at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University educating future doctors on the importance of dance for health. She is committed to helping people access their vitality and health through using their own bodies and to make dance accessible to all populations.
Melody Gamba
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Melody Gamba (she/her) is a dance artist, educator, licensed mental health counselor, and board-certified dance/movement psychotherapist advocating for arts-based, equitable, and just educational outreach, therapeutic interventions, and social justice programming in her community. Melody has collaborated with organizations to explore building connection and community through arts and was the 2022 Arts and Health Artist in Residence in partnership with RIDOH, RISCA, and Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS). Melody's focus on arts-based approaches awarded her the Presidential Scholarship to further her research in Lesley University's Ph.D. Counseling and Psychology: Transformative Leadership, Education and Applied Research program.
Wendy Grossman
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Wendy Grossman is an Activities Therapist and Coordinator of the Healing Arts Program at Butler Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. Also a writer, Wendy has over twenty-five years experience in utilizing the arts as a tool of engagement to promote individual and collective well-being in a variety of communities including adults experiencing homelessness, adults with mental illness, adults with physical and developmental disabilities, adults in addiction recovery, and with elder adults and youth.
Nicole O'Malley
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Nicole O’Malley is an Assistant Professor and founding director of URI's Music Therapy program and founding Executive Director of Hands in Harmony, a local 501c3 nonprofit that oversees music therapy programming throughout RI. Nicole received a Bachelor of Music in Music Therapy from Anna Maria College and a Master of Arts in Music Therapy from Berklee College of Music. She is pursuing her PhD in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience at the University of RI. She is a Neurologic Music Therapy Fellow and has completed level I neonatal intensive care unit training. She was the recipient of the Changemaker Award for Music Therapy Advocacy, Presidential Award for NER-AMTAS, and Ad Astra Advocacy Recognition Award. She serves as the chair of the music therapy task force of Rhode Island (throughout the passing of the music therapy licensure in Rhode Island), the NER-AMTA Government Relations Representative, and the RI Arts and Health Network Steering Committee.